Turning Thirty
by DarkRose1902
Summary: A look from Rachel's' POV at where the choices in life can lead a person.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Turning Thirty  
**Author:** DarkRose1902  
**Fandom:** Glee  
**Genre: **Angst, Family  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning:** mean!Finn (should that be a warning?)  
**Spoilers: **minor, up to latest episodes  
**Summery:** A look from Rachel's' POV at where the choices in life can lead a person.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters you recognise but do own the ones you don't. This is my way of loving them.

Rachel was thirty tomorrow and as she sat down in a rare moment of solitude she wondered how she had gotten where she was. Less than twelve years ago she had been getting ready to attend Juilliard, one of the best art colleges in the world, after graduating high school and winning regionals two years running. Her perfect boyfriend Finn was preparing to move with her (even though his grades weren't good enough to get into a college). They were going to get a flat and he was looking for a job. They had pretended his job would be so he could support her but both knew her dads' would actually be paying for everything. Now she was a housewife raising five young children in Lima Ohio while Finn (now her husband) had long since taken over his stepdads motor garage.

Her dad's had not been happy when she told them (on a plane on the way to New York) she was pregnant and as a result Juilliard's had withdrawn her placement. They quickly worked through their upset and agreed this was a minor setback and she would easily get in, in a couple of years. They did tell her off for not telling them sooner … like before they shipped her stuff off and got on the plane themselves.

When she mysteriously got pregnant for a second time (just after applying again) they sat her down and asked her if she wasn't subconsciously ruining her chances at being a star for some reason. She had instantly refuted that: yes she loved her daughter and being a mom but she still desperately wanted to be a star on Broadway. It had been her dream since before she could remember and she had worked hard to keep her body fit and her voice trained.

In the year 2023 she sat on her living room floor by the side of a Christmas tree (the kids were Jewish but Finn insisted on having Christmas) she remembered back to the summer of 2014 when she wanted to leave Ohio: leave her beautiful daughter Lea and her new son Michael and Finn and just move to New York. She figured she could be a star even without college education. She remembered folding her clothes into a bag while Finn stood next to her with streaming eyes. She remembered putting her newborn son into his crib and reading her daughter a last bed time story. But then her three-year old daughter had, had a nightmare and she decided to stay just a little longer. A month later her Lea asked her why she and Finn weren't married like most of her friends' parents and she finally caved in to Finn's near-constant pressure to get married.

It was hard; like she was giving up all her dreams but she had found it hard to deny Finn all these years and against him and their daughter it wasn't a choice any longer. What made it so much harder was the fact that Kurt (her soon-to-be step-brother-in-law) had just been given a role on Broadway. Not a large part but he had only graduated from college a couple of months before and it was in a really good play. Now ten years later Kurt really was a big star; rumour was he had turned away a part in a Hollywood movie because they was still too homophobic and she still wondered where she would be if she had just left. Kurt would have got her an audition somewhere even as he tried to get her to leave. Maybe Finn would have moved east to join her. She looked over to a family portrait proudly presented on the wall – would it have been worth it? Would they have had Shelby, Cory and baby Kurt? Would she have been happy?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Thinking back she remembered telling her dad's about the wedding. All they had ever wanted was for her to be happy (they did love being granddads') so they (and Kurt) did most of the planning. Rachel found comfort in arguing with Kurt (who was still in New York) about seat plans and colour schemes. She thought her 'brother' was deliberately argumentative to keep her calm. The two had become very close (he was the only one around when, aged eighteen and pregnant with her first child, she had gone into early labour. He had stopped her from panicking (mostly by being obnoxious and contrary) and gotten her to the hospital).

The two were close despite Kurt living in New York and having a perfect (and gorgeous boyfriend) and doing her dream job. All the while he managed to look after his ill father (even though Finn's mom did a really good job of that) and still be there for his oldest friends. Rachel grinned, remembering the last time she had seen Kurt and Blaine (they had flown their entire families to New York on a private plane to celebrate Blaine opening his own law firm). The whole visit everyone had been bugging them to make their relationship official.

When Mercedes had revealed she was getting married to Anthony (a jock she had been dating since school) Kurt was the first person to know despite the fact the couple lived on the opposite side of the US (in LA). He had also flown all the way there just to congratulate her in person. The diva was the only other one of them Rachel would consider to be successful. She had a record deal and her house had been on that MTV great houses show. Rachel, spitefully, was grateful she didn't have number one hit yet. Such bitterness from her was rare now-a-days but whenever she saw an album by Mercedes she wanted to throw it on the floor and stamp on it. The diva had everything Rachel wanted, perhaps even more so than Kurt because now she even had a one-year old daughter sweetly named Amber Jones-Rashad.

Rachel looked across to the wedding photo on the fireplace. All the kids from Glee had attended the Hudson-Berry wedding as well as Mr and Mrs Shue (and their new baby boy). She had been worried everyone was there just for Finn but they surprised her with their genuine happiness for her. A dark part of her had wondered if they were happy she was stuck here but sunny smiles and bright eyes put shade to thoughts like that. The rest of the old gang still lived nearby and since she had been the first of them to marry they all made a pack to be at everyone's future weddings'. That wasn't exactly her social calendar sorted but it encouraged her and Finn and everyone else to keep in contact with everyone.

Rachel laughed out loud remembering exactly nine months after her wedding she and Finn had their third child, Quinn had, had her second AND Tina had her first. Afterwards Finn had joked they were baby-makers'.

Quinn and Sam got married just before the birth (Quinn desperately didn't want her second child, a beautiful blond haired boy named Chord to be born out of wedlock). Shortly afterwards the Evans' family had moved to a bigger city, something to do with Sam's job as a fireman. Rachel had forgiven the old cheerleader for bullying her but she still kept a barrier between them. So it was Finn who maintained contact with them. He was the one who had told her the couple had, had a second child they named Dianna.

Tina and Mike broke up two years later after the birth of Harry never having tied the knot. It was an amicable break up and Mike stayed close so he could be near his son. He, like everyone else in glee, was euphoric when Tina and Artie married four years after that. Rachel sighed acknowledging that had been two years ago now and a few months ago the couple had proudly announced they had twin girls on the way. Mike had proposed to his girlfriend and Rachel was eagerly anticipating their wedding next year so she could meet up with everyone – it would be the first chance she got to see the baby girls.

Santana and Brittany now they were a strange pair; Santana had taken over as cheerio's coach when Sue retired (or in her epic words moved on to do more important things) and Brittany was some sort of model. Since the two lived together (the other side of Lima to the Hudsons') Brittany was no Pamela Anderson but she experienced a sort of celebrity status in Ohio. Rachel was never quite sure if they were a couple or not – sometimes one or the other or both had a boyfriend (or two) or a girlfriend (or two) but they never lasted long and the rest of the time they acted like they were.

Puck was the football coach at McKinley high (no one was more surprised when he got the job than he had been). Headmaster Shue had been very proud when he declared Puck the best candidate. The former bully and juvie convict had actually settled into a long-term happy relationship. Rachel smiled again; Santana the cheerleaders coach and Puck the football coach … she would love to be a fly on the wall when they clashed. Poor Shue! When they all got together Noah occasionally moaned about his monogamous lifestyle but actually seem to glow when his wife was around so no one took his grumbles seriously. The couple had a four year old daughter who was in the same pre-school as Rachel and Finn's fourth child (a boy). Finn liked to mock his closest friend saying the youngsters were destined to be a couple. The first time he had Rachel actually had a nightmare about their little boy getting Puck's little girl pregnant at sixteen and woke up in a cold sweat. Cory and Carol, ick, it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Rachel's musings were suddenly interrupted by five little people bursting into the room;

"Mummy, mummy Lea's be'in mean!"

"Am not Shelby,"

"Are too,"

"I am not . . ."

"Mummy Shel hit Lea,"

"Mummy 'urt went poop 'gain,"

"Cory just kicked Mikey,"

"Kids! I told you to leave mummy alone," Finn appeared at the door and as he ushered the kids out he smiled that bashful smile Rachel loved so much.

Twelve years ago Rachel would never have thought she would be married and have five children before turning thirty. But then again she never thought Finn would deliberately get her pregnant to keep her from leaving him. Sometimes she hated him for it … the rest of the time she was in awe at how much he loved her and didn't regret her decision to stay.


End file.
